Web-Based, Crowdsourced, First-Person Narratives of Young People’s Daily Commutes as a New Method for Identifying Situations Impacting Their Subjective Wellbeing

Abstract

Young people aged 15-24 represent approximately 21% of the global population and increasingly inhabit urban environments. Traditional wellbeing assessment tools typically depend on surveys that use predefined indicators failing to capture emergent, context-specific factors affecting youth navigating complex urban landscapes. This study addresses: How can we identify situations that impact the subjective wellbeing of young city dwellers during their daily commutes? We introduce “Youth-Targeted Mapped Crowd Sourced Storytelling for Wellbeing-Impacting Situation Identification” (YT-MCSST-4WISI), a novel methodology that combines Mapped Crowd-Sourced Storytelling (MCSST) for narrative collection, with a youth-targeted open-call recruitment strategy, and an analysis strategy encompassing thematic, narrative, phenomenological, and phenomenographic analyses with a focus on subjective wellbeing. We piloted YT-MCSST-4WISI via a participatory contest in Envigado, Colombia, engaging 34 ethically recruited participants aged 15-24. Using the open-source Ushahidi platform, participants submitted geotagged narratives describing their commute experiences. Narratives underwent multi-method analysis to identify recurring situations and emotional patterns. Results identified 30 wellbeing-impacting situations mostly overlooked by conventional surveys, including structural issues like steep topography (14.7% prevalence), heat exposure (23.5%), and transit unreliability, plus symbolic moments such as nature as refuge and social affirmations. By merging empathetic storytelling with scalable participatory tools, YT-MCSST-4WISI bridges constructivist and positivist paradigms, offering a scalable framework for youth-centred urban planning and policy, with strong potential for global scalability.